She won't return my car/ He won't finish the work I paid for...

[EnergyStarLady]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

I hired a guy off Craigslist to do some work for us around the house. During the few weeks he was working on the house, I got to know his wife. They were struggling financially and down to one car, so I (stupidly) let them borrow a car of mine. The understanding was she would pay for it in April after she got some money, $3,000, but first she was going to take it to a mechanic to check it out.

She called and said it possibly needed a new transmission and that they might not keep it after all, but that they would "let it sit" for awhile until they figured out what they were going to do.

In the meantime, I paid in full all the work he was scheduled to do on the house. He worked for the rest of the afternoon, then left. He never came back. There are things left undone, and I have emailed, called, texted and pleaded dozens of times but nothing works. Now I have a mess upstairs and no car, because she refuses to return it to me.

I told her I was going to file a police report and claim it was stolen, but since loaned it to her, I can't say it was stolen. I don't understand this. It is MY car. It is MY property. If someone was babysitting my child and refused to give her back, that would be kidnapping, right? Why is this not considered theft?

This car is registered in my name- and she refuses to return it. What can I do? We had a verbal agreement about the car, but since they ran off with my money and didn't finish the work on the house, why do I have to honor that agreement? I mean, they didn't honor THEIRS to finish the projects!

What can I do?

[justalayman]

stop with the car theft thing. You allowed them to take the car so they did not steal it. There is the possibility of other crimes, maybe, depending on the situation.

Here is a little story (true) that is similar that might help you make sense of the situtaion.

a motorcycle dealership allowed a customer to take a motorcycle for a test ride. Nothing was signed and not specific limitations issued by the dealership regarding distance, time, etc.

Well, the guy did not come back. When I heard about the situation, it had been at least 2 weeks since the guy took the bike (and still had it). The dealership had called the police to report it stolen. The police said (just as with you) it was not stolen, you gave them permission to take it. When the dealership said they did not give permission to keep it indefinately, the cops asked "so, how long did you say they could keep it?". Well, the dealership admitted they did not limit the time. Cops said, if we see him, we can stop him and tell him you want it back but until you can make an order upon him (properly legally notified) you demand the return, he has done nothing illegal.

the dealership did not have a legit address for the guy so could not actually serve him.

to be honest, I don't know if they ever got the bike back.





anyway, unless you can make a legal demand he return the car, he has not stolen it.

If you know where the car is, you can go and pick it up. If you don't know where it is, you need to find out where it is and go and pick it up.

then, if whatever work was done was not proper, you need to deal with that in civil court.

[EnergyStarLady]

Originally Posted by justalayman

anyway, unless you can make a legal demand he return the car, he has not stolen it.

If you know where the car is, you can go and pick it up. If you don't know where it is, you need to find out where it is and go and pick it up.

then, if whatever work was done was not proper, you need to deal with that in civil court.

Points taken. How do I do the above? I do not know of an exact address... but I am working on it.

So I can just go and get it?

[justalayman]

Originally Posted by EnergyStarLady

Points taken. How do I do the above? I do not know of an exact address... but I am working on it.

So I can just go and get it?

Hopefully you kept a key to the thing. Tell me you did.

If so, I would attempt to find it and simply go and pick it up (hopefully with absolutely NO interaction with the people)

If you cannot find the car but you can find them and an address, either confront them in person (not always a good idea but will leave that to you to determine) or simply take their address and send a demand letter (receipt notice is good but if you require a signature, they may refuse the letter)

demanding they arrange to return the car in oh, say, within 3 days or whatever you like.

then, if it is not returned, you still don't have a criminal complaint the police will bother with so you will probably have to sue them. Hopefully the value of the car is within small claims limits. If so, simply sue for the value of the car. When it gets to court, the judge will probable allow the return of the vehicle in lieu of payment.

[CdwJava]

If you cannot locate your car to reclaim it, then you might consider reporting it to the police as embezzled (not, specifically, as stolen). He does not have a right to keep your property indefinitely.